Early life

Whitefoord Russell Cole was born on January 14, 1874, in
Nashville, Tennessee.[2][3][4] His father,
Edmund William Cole, was a Confederate veteran and railroad executive; his mother, Anna Russell, was a philanthropist.[4][5] His maternal uncle, Whitefoord Russell, was a Confederate veteran, and his maternal great-uncle was a professor at the
University of Georgia and
Berlin University.[5] Cole grew up at
Colemere, a mansion in Nashville, with three half-siblings from his father's first marriage to a member of the McGavock family; his parents entertained often.[5]